Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to help improve customer confidence in battery performance when buying used Euro 6 compliant electric vehicles.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate and the recently announced Electric Car Grant require manufacturers to provide a warranty of 8 years or 100,000 miles on EV batteries. In comparison, new petrol or diesel cars usually come with a 3-year warranty. Moreover, during the warranty period, if the battery capacity drops below 70% for cars or 65% for vans, the manufacturer must provide a replacement battery.
The UK has worked with international partners at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe to develop a Global Technical Regulation on EV batteries (GTR No.22). If implemented, this regulation would ensure that EVs provide easily accessible, accurate, and comparable information on the battery’s state of health. The Government is analysing options for the implementation of GTR No.22 regulations in the UK.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on providing English local authorities the powers to enforce a pavement parking ban.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Secretary of State for Transport has not had any discussions with the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on this matter. The Department held a consultation on pavement parking in 2020 and has been considering all the views expressed in response to the consultation and is currently working through the policy options and the possible legislative opportunities for delivering them. We will announce the next steps and publish our formal response as soon as possible. In the meantime, local authorities can make use of existing powers to restrict and enforce pavement parking.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Sustran's report entitled Transforming mobility, published on 8 July 2025, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing paid local access panels to (a) review and (b) improve transport (i) policy and (ii) practice for disabled people.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Sustrans Transforming Mobility Report highlights how paid access panels could be one means by which local transport authorities engage with disabled people to shape, review, and monitor transport policies and projects, so that accessibility is embedded from the start of projects.
This recommendation is aimed at local leaders, who know their communities and are best placed to make decisions about how they can improve local transport for disabled people. Improving accessibility is a collaborative effort, with operators, industry, and local authorities having key parts to play – alongside the support of all passengers. Breaking down barriers to opportunity is a core mission statement for this government and that is why we are developing an Integrated National Transport Strategy to enable us to better work with partners across the transport sector to deliver a network that works for all passengers.
More widely, the government is committed to improving public transport services, so they are more inclusive and enable disabled people to travel safely, confidently and with dignity. The Bus Services (No.2) Bill, introduced by the government on 17 December is intended to ensure networks meet the needs of the communities who rely on them and includes measures which will make bus travel more accessible and inclusive. In addition, on 1 October 2024, the first phase of the Public Service Vehicles (Accessible Information) Regulations 2023 came into force, meaning that newer vehicles providing local services must provide audible and visible information on stops, destinations and diversions. The majority of services will need to comply by October 2026.
Ensuring the rail network is accessible is at the heart of our passenger-focused approach to improving rail services. We are committed to improving the experience for disabled passengers and have committed to publishing an accessibility roadmap to explain the actions we are taking to improve accessibility ahead of the establishment of Great British Rail.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing zebra crossings without zig-zag lines.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
An amendment to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (TSRGD) would be required to permit zebra crossings to be placed without zig-zag lines or yellow globes.
The Department has been working with Active Travel England who have been carrying out further research to inform good practice advice to support possible future legislative change. The Department cannot give any timescale at present for when TSRGD may be amended.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Sustran's report entitled Transforming mobility, published on 8 July 2025, what steps she is taking to support the roll-out of side road zebra crossings.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
An amendment to the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016 (TSRGD) would be required to permit zebra crossings to be placed without zig-zag lines or yellow globes.
The Department has been working with Active Travel England who have been carrying out further research to inform good practice advice to support possible future legislative change. The Department cannot give any timescale at present for when TSRGD may be amended.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking to support initiatives aimed at increasing cycling participation among women and girls.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department and Active Travel England (ATE) work with local authorities and other delivery partners to support active travel outreach programmes for underrepresented groups, including women and girls. This includes funding for Bikeability cycle training for children and outreach programmes to engage underrepresented groups through Cycling UK’s Big Bike Revival programme and local authorities.
In addition, ATE is working with local authorities across England to provide high-quality cycling infrastructure including as part of wider transport schemes. This includes providing lighting for walking and cycling schemes, improving social safety and delivering road safety improvements to existing schemes.
Responsibility for many aspects of transport in Scotland, including active travel, is devolved. My honourable friend the member for Edinburgh South West may wish to speak to the Scottish Government regarding steps taken to increase cycling participation among women and girls in Scotland.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what is the average waiting time for a driving test in Currie; and when she expects the backlog to be cleared.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The year-to-date average waiting time for a driving test at Edinburgh (Currie) driving test centre (DTC) is 24 weeks.
The Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s (DVSA) main priority is upholding road safety standards while it works hard to reduce car practical driving test waiting times.
On the 23 April, the Secretary of State for Transport appeared before the Transport Select Committee and announced that DVSA will take further actions to reduce waiting times for all customers across Great Britain.
DVSA expects to deliver thousands of additional tests this month and is working to increase test availability further over the coming year. Over 630,000 learners across Great Britain now have a test booked. That number will rise as the DVSA increases test availability.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that rail fares are affordable.
Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Scottish fares are a matter for the Scottish Government. However, in both administrations Scotland and England, some fares are regulated to protect passengers by setting the maximum amount that regulated fares can increase year-on-year.
London North Eastern Railway's (LNER’s) "Simpler Fares" trial is running on the East Coast Mainline, including between London and areas around Edinburgh, to explore alternative fare structures on long-distance routes.
With LNER’s Simpler Fares initiative, the number of tickets has been reduced to just three per class - fixed, semi-flexible, and fully flexible.
The off-peak and super-off-peak tickets with complex validities have been replaced by a new semi flexible ticket - “70-Flex” which allows passengers to adjust their booking in order to travel on an earlier or later LNER service, scheduled to depart within 70 minutes of their booked departure time, which is much clearer and more descriptive.
Finally, everything is priced on a single leg basis where a single costs no more than half of the equivalent return, enabling passengers to easily mix and match tickets for each leg of their journey without penalty according to their needs e.g. Fixed out and Flexible back or First Class with Standard.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the lessons learned from the implementation of pavement parking restrictions in (a) Edinburgh and (b) London.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The Department has been carefully considering the responses to the consultation that took place in 2020 and is currently working through the policy options. There will be a full impact assessment of the policies to be implemented, which will consider a wide range of issues including lessons from other parts of the country. Departmental officials are in contact with the Scottish Government and London Councils. As soon as the Government has decided its preferred way forward, we will announce the next steps and publish our formal response.
Asked by: Scott Arthur (Labour - Edinburgh South West)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential role of technology in the decarbonisation of the transport sector.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
Technological solutions will play a critical role in decarbonising transport across all modes, including through accelerated electric vehicle rollout and low carbon fuel deployment in shipping and aviation. Government will produce a plan later this year for reducing emissions from all sectors, including transport, in line with legislated carbon budgets.